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Assessing the utility of the Healthy Start Screen to predict an elevated Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score

  • Mikela M. Padilla , Dikea Roussos-Ross EMAIL logo and Amie J. Goodin ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: April 10, 2020
Journal of Perinatal Medicine
From the journal Journal of Perinatal Medicine Volume 48 Issue 5

Abstract

Objective

To examine the utility of the Healthy Start Screen (HSS), which is an assessment of health, environment, and behavioral risk factors offered to all pregnant women in the state of Florida, in identifying women at risk for developing postpartum depression (PPD).

Methods

The sample for this Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved, retrospective study consisted of patients who presented to a women’s clinic for a new prenatal visit. Those patients who completed both the HSS at their prenatal visit and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at their postpartum visit were included. We focused on items 1–10 of the HSS, where patients could respond with either “yes” or “no”, and identified a positive EPDS as any score greater than or equal to 12.

Results

Women who identified as feeling down, depressed or hopeless, feeling alone when facing problems, to having ever received mental health services, or to having any trouble paying bills were more likely to have an EPDS score greater than or equal to 12.

Conclusion

The HSS, currently mandated by the state of Florida to be offered to all pregnant women, is a useful tool for identifying women at increased risk of developing PPD.

Keywords: Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS); Healthy Start; maternal screening; perinatal depression; postpartum depression
Corresponding author: Dikea Roussos-Ross, MD, Associate Professor and Division Director, Division of Gynecology, Gynecologic Surgery and Obstetrics, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Florida College of Medicine, P.O. Box 100294, Gainesville, FL, USA; and Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA, Tel.: +352-273-7827

  1. Research funding: None declared.

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Ethical approval: The study protocol was approved by the local institutional review board (IRB #201800695).

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/jpm-2019-0472).

Received: 2019-12-23
Accepted: 2020-03-13
Published Online: 2020-04-10
Published in Print: 2020-06-25

©2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/jpm-2019-0472
Keywords for this article
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS); Healthy Start; maternal screening; perinatal depression; postpartum depression

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorials
  3. Newborns at risk of COVID-19
  4. Pandemic corona virus issue – how do we respond?
  5. Review
  6. COVID-19 and pregnancy – where are we now? A review
  7. Opinion Paper
  8. Expanding the concept of the professional integrity of obstetrics during a public health emergency
  9. Corner of Academy
  10. COVID-19 infection during pregnancy: fetus as a patient deserves more attention
  11. Are Covid-19-positive mothers dangerous for their term and well newborn babies? Is there an answer?
  12. Short Communication
  13. Novel coronavirus, novel faculty development programs: rapid transition to eLearning during the pandemic
  14. Commentaries
  15. Professionally responsible counseling about birth location during the COVID-19 pandemic
  16. The care of pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic – response of a large health system in metropolitan New York
  17. Obituary
  18. Isaac Blickstein, MD
  19. Original Articles – Obstetrics
  20. The impact of general anesthesia on mother-infant bonding for puerperants who undergo emergency cesarean deliveries
  21. The correlation of fetal cardiac function with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and oxidative stress levels
  22. Pregnancy in patients with hemoglobinopathies: 30-year results of a Greek Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Department
  23. Assessing the utility of the Healthy Start Screen to predict an elevated Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score
  24. Safety of misoprostol vaginal insert for labor induction using standard vs. adjusted retrieval criteria: a comparative cohort study
  25. Influence of non-pharmacological obstetric interventions on adverse outcomes of childbirth under regional analgesia
  26. Doppler evaluation of the posterior cerebral artery in fetuses with transposition of great arteries
  27. Original Articles – Newborns
  28. Group B streptococcal transmission rates as determined by PCR
  29. Rates of metabolic acidosis at birth and Apgar score values at 1, 5, and 10 min in term infants: a Swedish cohort study
  30. Short Communication
  31. Placental delayed villous maturation is associated with evidence of chronic fetal hypoxia
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